Summary:
Van Buren Public Schools is served by a single high school, Belleville High School, which enrolls 1,669 students across grades 7 through 12 in the Van Buren Public Schools district.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Belleville High School faces significant academic challenges, particularly in mathematics, where only 16.7% of 11th graders are proficient on the SAT compared to the state average of 26.5%. Reading and writing scores are closer to state norms but still lag, with 43.3% proficiency versus 52.1% statewide. The school’s state ranking has been volatile, improving to the 48th percentile in 2024-2025 before dropping back to the 33rd percentile in 2025-2026. A major red flag is the chronic absenteeism rate of 41.9%, far exceeding the state’s 27.9% and the district’s own 35.8%—this likely contributes to lower test scores. On a positive note, the dropout rate of 5.6% is better than the state average of 7.1%, and the graduation rate of 82.6% is close to the state’s 84.0%.
Looking deeper, math proficiency is consistently low from 9th grade (around 20%) through 11th grade, suggesting foundational gaps that are not being remediated. Science proficiency also dropped sharply from 32.9% to 21.2% in one year, a decline worth investigating. Social studies is the school’s relative strength, at 31.6% versus the state’s 43.2%, and could offer instructional strategies to apply elsewhere. With per-student spending of $17,845 and a student-teacher ratio of 22.4, the school is investing heavily but not seeing proportional results. About 40% of students are economically disadvantaged, yet the majority are not, so absenteeism and academic struggles are not solely tied to poverty. Parents should consider these factors when evaluating the school and may want to ask about attendance initiatives and math intervention programs.
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